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Robin Dann. Photo by Claire Harvie.

July 13, 2021 // Toronto, ON – Soundstreams has announced details of the world broadcast premiere of Quiet Time, featuring new music from Canadian composers Robin Dann, Allison Cameron and Matthew Pencer. An audiovisual experience to be released on August 19, 2021, Quiet Time combines a musical exploration of solitude with the personal travel experiences and Arctic recordings of Dann and Cameron to create a captivating new soundscape inspired by some of the quietest sounds of the world. Tickets for Quiet Time are available now for Soundstreams Insiders. General public access opens July 22. Tickets are priced as Donate-What-You-Can, ranging from $5 to $25. 

Robin Dann, Composer & Quiet Time Curator: “Quiet Time is an exploration of mindfulness in solitude. This is reflected in the quiet, introspective composition and experimentation with solo voices, but also as a uniquely solitary listening experience as well. We’re inviting folks to tune in via headphones, and to be alone in their experience of the music as opposed to in a public, group setting. I think that’s part of what makes this program special, how we’ve used the limitations of a digital-only, COVID-safe recording structure and turned that into an essential part of the piece. 

The arts are a reflection of the world around us, and can also offer solace and relief from that world. Curation of the Quiet Time experience was inspired by how sounds can feel endless, shapeless, and always changing.” 

Lawrence Cherney, Founding Artistic Director, Soundstreams: “Robin’s capacity to draw upon the silences between the notes lends her work such a specific and intriguing feel. Her curation of Quiet Time, and use of sound clips from the Arctic, is such a beautiful homage to the silence and majesty of frozen spaces, and an alluring finale to this year’s Soundstreams programming.” 

Robin Dann is the 2020/21 Soundstreams New Voices curator, and Quiet Time her Soundstreams programming premiere. 

Quiet Time features Robin Dann (guest curator, composer, and vocal performer), Allison Cameron (composer, banjo/ukulele/keyboard/electronics), and Matthew Pencer (composer, laptop) and the work of Renee Lear (video editor). Repertoire will include Transpolar Drift by Allison Cameron, and the premiere of new work by Robin Dann and Matthew Pencer, Wanny’s Song. 

The Quiet Time broadcast will premiere August 19. Visit https://soundstreams.ca/performances/main-stage/quiet-time/ for more information.  

Quiet Time is supported by Michael and Sonja Koerner Charitable Foundation and The Mary-Margaret Webb Fund for Women Composers. 

Soundstreams’ New Voices guest curation program is supported by The Azrieli Foundation.  

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Soundstreams is one of the world’s leading contemporary music companies, and the largest global presenter of new Canadian music. Founder and Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney is committed to showcasing the work of Canadian and international composers, and has commissioned over 170 new works, and programmed hundreds of unique and compelling concerts including chamber music events, multi-choir spectaculars, operas, music-theatre works, and seven highly successful international festivals. Soundstreams serves a broad community of music lovers through the yearly Main Stage series, and free outreach and education programs that include Encounters, the Insider program, RBC Bridges, and SoundMakers. Years of collaboration with artists from diverse cultures have laid the groundwork for Soundstreams’ leap onto the world stage, with productions like Claude Vivier’s Musik fur das Ende, the Cree- and Sámi-language Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin / Gállábártnit, and Hell’s Fury: The Hollywood Songbook enjoying international success and rave reviews through The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.  

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Tim Crouch, Director, Communications, Marketing, & Operations  

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Robin Dann is a singer and composer. She is most interested in laughter, empathy, and song as a social tool. Her Polaris-nominated band Bernice tours internationally and releases their music with Canadian label Telephone Explosion Records and UK label Figure8. Robin’s interest in using the voice and song to generally feel better continues to lead her in many directions including several collaborations with the Toronto Dance Theatre, Soundstreams, continuing work for seniors with memory loss at the Bitove Method, as well as ongoing collaboration with many different artists in Toronto and internationally. Robin was named a finalist for the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize in 2019 and has received government support for numerous projects. In 2019 she was the recipient of a Chalmers Fellowship, allowing her to travel to the Arctic Circle, and to continue her research in song as an empathetic, community-building practice.